“Google Inc is getting into the eyewear business with a pair of thin wraparound shades that puts the company’s Web services in your face,” Alexei Oreskovic reports for Reuters.
“The experimental ‘augmented reality’ glasses – from the same team that is developing self-driven cars – can snap photos, initiate videochats and display directions at the sound of a user’s voice,” Oreskovic reports. “The prototype digital glasses, unveiled on the company’s Google+ social network on Wednesday, are still being tweaked and tested, and are not available in stores yet.”
Oreskovic reports, “The glasses could provide a way for Google to more closely entwine its advertising-supported online services, including Web searches, maps and email, into people’s daily lives. The glasses also could help Google match some of the buzz that rival Apple Inc has generated with its latest iPhone and the built-in Siri digital assistant, which takes spoken commands to do such tasks as schedule calendar appointments and get weather forecasts.”
Read more in the full article here.
Apple hired wearable computing guru Richard DeVaul two years ago.
Electronista March 2010
“Apple in a low-key move has hired Richard DeVaul for what may indicate the long-term direction of its devices. The AWare Technologies founder has been a Senior Prototype Scientist at the company since January and is best-known for his doctorate work at MIT, where he specialized in wearable computer technology. Among his developments are a heads-up display that provides subtle memory clues and a “body-worn network” that would use a set of nodes to provide environmental and navigational data to the wearer.
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/03/15/apple.hire.may.hint.at.huds.body.networks/#ixzz1rCjbrJW1”
Apple does not announce products until they are near shipping, they don’t do “fantasy Msft ‘Courier’ type demos” so we don’t know what they are really working on. At least we know for sure they are aware of ‘wearable computing’.
Jobs was famous for saying it’s not what they build but what they reject.
DeVaul was nabbed by Google last year.
Google taking DeVaul follows their M.O of Schmidt with iPhone. Andy Rubin head of Android also worked for Apple at one point.
It would be interesting to know the reason why De Vaul was at Apple for such a brief time.
Did Google poach him? Or did Apple management say “Can you actually make something we can sell?” and set him free when the answer was “No.”
This is not real. It’s a concept. The article implies that the video shows a working version. No way. Where’s the battery go? Where’s the circuitry?
This just seems awfully annoying. it reminds me of CNN on TV 24 h/ day
I like it. Google innovating instead of blindly ripping off like they did with the iPhone.
look at my post above.
one of the key guys working on their glasses is Richard DeVaul who used to work on wearable computing for Apple.
DeVaul is supposed to have access to Apple’s wearable computing iniatiatives. We don’t know what Apple is working on , they never pre announce things but it might be Google’s attempt to pre empt anything Apple might have by releasing a concept demo (google glasses is not even a prototype).